Star Ocean: Gateway of Oblivion
by Azrad
Summary: AlNel. Fayt is dead, and he wonders how it happened as he finds himself back in 4D space. Meanwhile, war has broken out once again in Elicoor II. Albel and Nel once again are in opposing sides, and they aren't eager to give up anything.


**A/n: **Wow… I'm back, I posted a story again. Note: It may seem like it but this story is NOT FaytxAlbel. This is an AlNel story, with some Fayt cutting in for a love triangle. This story follows Fayt and Nel's ending, and Albel's original ending.

**Disclaimer: **SquareEnix may own Star Ocean 3, its characters, and its original story, but they will never have my freedom!!! Plus Nel, my pet cat.

**Chapter 1**

Fayt woke up due to the sound of flowing water, finding himself floating endlessly in a white oblivion. The blue haired teen tried, but was unable to move from his position as he floated aimlessly somewhere. For a few minutes, Fayt wondered what the hell was happening; until he heard the voice.

"Looks like you're awake, eh?" A male voice said, echoing in the emptiness of the white voice.

"Where… where am…" Fayt tried to speak, but had soon found himself too weak to mutter a complete sentence.

"You don't remember?" the voice said, "Figures, I guess, but…" Slowly, from Fayt's point of view, the whiteness of the oblivion began to fade away, revealing the gray, metallic colors of the walls and ceiling. He was on a small bed, beside a window that overlooked a garden, and farther away, a large city.

The buildings in the distance, the horizon soon made realize where he was.

"I'm in… 4D space?!" he tried to stand up, but the legs were unresponsive and felt like dead weight.

"Relax…" there were footsteps, and the figure of the male voice soon came to Fayt's sight. A young man with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a lab coat stood beside Fayt, holding a wet towel. As the young man placed the wet towel on Fayt's forehead, the blue haired teen soon noticed the young man's irises change color as the light from outside reflect upon it. Between the two, they were of the same age.

"Still don't remember what happened?" the young man said, walking up towards a monitor beside a wall. Switching the machine on, a screen displaying a chess board appeared. He watched the board for a few minutes while he waited for Fayt's reply.

"…No…" Fayt said, tilting his head to the side where the window was. His legs were slowly starting to move again, though it felt like electricity was running through it. "I don't even know who you are…"

The young man turned around to face Fayt, a smile on his face, eyes closed. "It's Dante, Dante Valentine. You could say I was the one who brought you back from the _dead_…"

"_What?"_ Fayt said, inside his mind. All of a sudden, his voice fell limp.

"Dead. You died in Elicoor II, and I brought you back to life here."

"Fayt's voice returned, a twinge of shock with it, "But… but Luther was destroyed, and the original Eternal Sphere was…"

"—Broken? Yes, I know, but…" Dante said, sitting on a chair beside the monitor, scratching his hair. "Well, you could say that you left, or made some ends that are connected to this dimension to yours. The details are too boring…"

Then there was silence, painful quiet for the earthling teen. An avalanche of thoughts came into his mind, most of them blurred and unfamiliar flashes which served to confuse him more. As he pondered the thoughts, the sound of beeping came from above his head. Everything was going dark, then completely white again.

"I just reinstalled most of your data, kid. Thinking too hard will only lengthen the recovery, so it's best if you take a long rest. I'll tell you everything you need to hear when time comes." There was a sound of a door opening and closing, and Fayt was left alone again, drifting in the white void as his thoughts slowly shut down to sleep.

Before he slept, the thought of one person entered his mind.

"Nel…"

**---------**

Albel drove the tip of his katana to the breastplate of the Aquarian soldier, laughing maniacally as he kicked the belly to send the soldier to tumble down the stairs, crashing into more soldiers. Turning around, he faced three more, each of them a novice in battle.

"Die, you maggots!" Albel said as he rushed toward them, his steel blade shining under the dim lights of the torches. His robes, almost similar to Woltar's clothing, with the addition of a leather breastplate and a torn black cape, were stained crimson red.

Six months after the peace treaty was broken, battles below Airyglyph's royal palace, within the sewers had become a daily occurrence. When a coup d'état forced the King, along with his wife and count Woltar to escape, while Albel, on the other hand, chose to fight for the new leader, a council of reinstated nobility.

And he loved the battle. While fighting the three soldiers, he noticed a lone soldier in the distance, aiming a crossbow at him. Albel made a small hop to the wall, kicking it as he launched himself midair, his blade overhead. With one hand, he brought the katana down with fierce power, tearing one of the soldiers, unprepared, in half. Yanking the blade out the body, Albel then reached for the second soldier with his claw.

Driving the claws in the stomach of the soldier, Albel used him as a shield from the crossbow bolt, while using the hand which held the katana to slice the third soldier in half.

The soldier with the crossbow was left. Walking slowly to the soldier, Albel deflected with ease the crossbow fire with his katana, sometimes using his prosthetic claw to block the assault. The sleeve that covered his claw was torn in shreds, revealing the metal plates of his arm.

Albel ran full speed toward his opponent as the soldier panicked and ran, reaching his target in a few seconds. Driving the sword to the back, the soldier fell dead, Albel standing over the corpse with mad eyes.

Several coridors down, Albel could hear the triumphant cries of victory from his soldiers. With a smile of satisfaction, the captain of the black brigade wiped the blood from his katana, then putting it slowly back on the sheath.

As he walked, Albel soon reached a group of his own soldiers, who were piling up the stripped bodies of the Aquarian soldiers. The weapons and armor were piled on another side, the soldiers pouring oil into the corpses of the fallen. Albel walked a little bit faster as he passed by, since the smell of burning flesh aggravated him.

The soldiers who were doing the task kept their heads low, avoiding the glare of Albel the wicked. Albel gave out a small grunt, the only form of greeting to his men, one which was not returned back, in fear of the mad swordsman.

Soon enough, Albel reached the castle dungeons, not much of a cleaner place compared to the sewers. There were no prisoners there, the inmates excecuted during the start of the war. The rotten stench of death filled the cells, causing even Albel himselft to grimace at the smell.

Standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the castle, stood a young man in runologist's robes. His hair was dark brown, and his irises a pitch black, and he looked younger than him, but it was positive. The young man who stood there waiting looked a lot like Fayt.

"Welcome back, Master Albel…" the young man said, giving a slight bow. Albel nearly ignored him as he passed by, removing his prosthetic arm and handing it to the young man.

"Clean up the joints, fool, and have it placed in my room in an hour or I'll…"

"Kill me, I know." The young man cut in, with a slight chuckle. "I'm pretty sure this would be the fifth time today that you threateaned me." He said, following Albel back up.

Outside the dungeon, a soldier in pitch black armor stood, leaning on a wall. There was no helmet, revealing the smooth face of a red haired man, both eyes closed. Opening one eye, revealing dark brown irises that stared at Albel and the young man, smiling as he did.

"Albel! Took you long enough, the dungeon was stunk real bad, so I had to getback up here for some human air."

"If Shion was actually helping Master Albel to fight underground, then you wouldn't be waiting too long." The young man said, wiping the smudges of blood in Albel's gauntlet.

"You're a loudmouth for you boss again Touya!" Shion said, slapping the teen lightly on the shoulder with his hand. "I'm the captain of the Dragon Brigade, and you can't expect me and my darling Elise to be fighting in those cramped tunnels.

Albel ignored the two talking back and forth, as he walked toward the formor throne room of the castle. Despite the chaos underground and in the surrounding areas of the city, the royal palace was clean and orderly.

Touya soon parted ways, carrying the gauntlet of Albel to his room, leaving Albel and Shion to walk together alone.

"I've been real curious to ask you this, O mighty captain of the black brigade, but why did you side with us?"

Albel ignored him, walking past the patrolling guards and servants. Shion continued as he they walked down the corridor.

"I mean, I know that you once helped Aquaria upon orders of the former king, plus you were allies with that officer chick, Nel, was it?"

Albel stopped, they were at the doors of the former throne room.

"…and I just heard, that the other guy that fought with you got killed in battle you were in, so…"

"…I have my reasons maggot." Albel said as he entered the room, leaving Shion to stand outside.

**---------**

Fayt sat at the edge of the bed, a can of some mysterious liquid in his hands. Dante was sitting nearby, watching the monitor again as it played a match of chess.

"Fayt, I'll help you piece back the memories you had after the destruction of the eternal sphere. Of course, I had already installed your previous memories before you defeated Luther, since I managed to snag a copy of your original data before everything went down. I'll even help you to return to your world, alive and well…"

"What's the price then?" In the monitor, the black knight took out its white counterpart, causing a checkmate. Dante smiled as he stared at Fayt.

"In exchange for doing all this… I want you to help me reconnect this dimension back into the eternal sphere…"

**--Chapter 1 end—**

**A/N: push the** shiny review button, I know you want too! It's a habit from fictionpress, but if you review my story, I will definitely review yours!

--Yes, I changed Albel's clothing, but fear not, there are parts where he would wear his gender-confused clothing in the story. I also plan to make Albel the wicked live up to his title.

--And yes, there is a positve AlNel relationship, next chapter would be the appearance of the red-haired lass.

--Been a while since I wrote in fanfiction, comments are greatly appreciated.


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